# dummy

> English word · Noun · IPA /ˈdʌmi/ · frequency rank #12,229

## Definitions
1. A silent person; a person who does not talk.
2. A stupid person.
3. A term of address.
4. A figure of a person or animal used by a ventriloquist; a puppet.
5. Something constructed with the size and form of a human, to be used in place of a person.
6. A person who is the mere tool of another; a man of straw.
7. A deliberately nonfunctional device or tool used in place of a functional one.
8. A pacifier; a plastic or rubber teat used to soothe or comfort a baby.
9. A player whose hand is shown and is to be played from by another player.
10. A word serving only to make a construction grammatical.
11. An unused parameter or value.
12. A feigned pass or kick or play in order to deceive an opponent.
13. A bodily gesture meant to fool an opposing player; a feint.
14. A newborn animal that is indifferent to stimulus and does not voluntarily move.
15. A fairy chess piece that cannot move or capture, but can be captured and used to skip moving another piece.

## Etymology
From dumb + -y. Pacifier sense from dummy teat where dummy is in the sense of a nonfunctional replica.

## Easily confused with
- **duty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dummy-vs-duty)
- **dump** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dummy-vs-dump)
- **dusty** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dummy-vs-dusty)
- **dumps** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dummy-vs-dumps)
- **dusky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dummy-vs-dusky)
- **dum** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dum-vs-dummy)
- **dumb** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dumb-vs-dummy)
- **duly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duly-vs-dummy)
- **duma** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duma-vs-dummy)
- **Duffy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duffy-vs-dummy)
- **duchy** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/duchy-vs-dummy)
- **dimly** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dimly-vs-dummy)
- **dumbo** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/dumbo-vs-dummy)
- **ducky** (https://plainspell.com/en/vs/ducky-vs-dummy)

## Common misspellings (6)
`ddummy`, `dmumy`, `dummyy`, `dumy`, `dumym`, `udmmy`

## Source
Compiled from Wiktionary via kaikki.org (CC BY-SA). Data vintage: 2026-05-06.
Canonical page: https://plainspell.com/en/word/dummy